Environmental Historian David J. Grettler argues that environmental history tells the story of environmental change as well as the relationship between human beings and their environment. In this work I have attempted to hold to this statement. New Jersey waterscapes changed immensely over the 19th century, and I have attempted to describe this change to the best of my ability. However, this is not the only purpose of this work. I have also attempted to explain why these changes took place, a problem which involves a great deal of natural history as well as a strong understanding of human interaction with the environment. Hopefully, this work will satisfactorily chronicle this history, as well as help push the boundaries of environmental history further into the past....

Through ... three specific topics, namely the Delaware River, the Morris and Delaware-Raritan Canals, and the marshes of South Jersey, this thesis will trace American attitudes to the Environment throughout the nineteeth century to the beginnings of the conservation movement, as well as explaining why these pieces of environmental history played little or no part in the beginnings of that movement. Hopefully, this study, though small in scope geographically, will partially fill in the gap between the environmental ideas of early colonists and the post-civil war conservationists.

Chapter 1 concerns environmental change along the Delaware River. Specifically this chapter describes the early colonial civilization of the Delaware Valley as well as the economic state of the region throughout the 19th century. Ultimately, this economic discussion sheds light on the manifold changes which occured in the Delaware's hydrology and ecology. Ultimately, I argue that environmental change along the Delware had more to do with profit than environmentalism.

Chapter 2 will discuss New Jersey's Canals, including the Morris Canal as well as the Delaware and Raritan Canal. These canals are among the most important examples of Americans overtly changing their environment for progressive economic reasons. This chapter will also briefly discuss hydrology and ecology.

Chapter 3 will discuss New Jersey's wetlands, which were probably the most drastically altered waterscapes in New Jersey, despite the fact that many eventually reverted back to their original state. Along with the origins of land drainage, this chapter will also describe the economics of reclamation and the changing hydrology and ecology of wetlands.

Chapter 4 will survey the conservation and preservation movements of the 19th century. Both of these movements arguably started as the result of the Enlightenment ideal of historical progress, therefore this topic will be discussed as well. All three of these ideologies affected the ways in which Americans discussed and effected New Jersey's waterscapes, and therefore they are important clues as to why the change described in the former chapters occurred in the ways that they did. In the 19th century, forests were much more important to environmentalists than were waterscapes, despite the fact that both saw drastic negative impacts throughout the century. Ultimately, I argue that waterscapes were not important to the environmental movement because they were not yet valued for profit or for aesthetics as much as forests were. Therefore, this thesis will not only describe many different tangible physical changes to New Jersey's landscape, but it will also shed light on the state of science in the 19th century, as well as the values of contemporary Americans.